W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Jefferies Financial Group Analyst Says

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target raised by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from $57.00 to $66.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 3.32% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.82.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $1.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $68.27. 1,160,121 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,800,106. The company has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.89.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W. R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.